I was standing outside Steak Frites on 16th Street, smoking a cigarette, waiting for my friend to come out when a well-dressed gentleman exited the restaurant and asked me if I wanted to take some coke off his hands. Sure. Why not? Those days were long over for me but free is free. Coke is just the rich man’s coffee but I have rich friends that wouldn’t have minded a gift bag. He said that he had too much and that he and his wife were fighting. He palm passed it to me and on cue, his wife appeared and gave me the stink eye.

Free drugs on the street. What kind of town is this? But no worries. On the way to meeting my friends in the LES on Friday night, I actually lost the little glassine bag and my Klipsch ear bud headphones somewhere on Houston near the F train.